Bosnia and Herzegovina

Military & Security

Politics

Bosnian state prosecutors ordered the arrest of Milorad Dodik, the Serbian separatist president of Bosnia and Herzegovina's semiautonomous Republika Srpska territory, for defying a court summons, Reuters reported on March 12.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnian Authorities Ordered Arrest of Serb Separatist Leader Dodik

Economics

The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina's semiautonomous Republika Srpska territory, Milorad Dodik, signed laws banning the activities of the country's central investigative and judicial institutions in the Serbian region, and the laws will enter into force on March 7, Sarajevo Times reported on March 5.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska Bans State Investigative and Judicial Institutions

Europe

Ukraine

Moldova

EU leaders will discuss the bloc's enlargement policy during a two-day summit on March 21-22, taking stock of candidate countries' progress toward meeting accession criteria, Euractiv reported on March 20.

EU: Brussels To Propose New, More Gradual Accession Process for New Members

The National Assembly of Bosnia-Herzegovina's autonomous Serb-dominated Republika Srpska passed a law suspending recognition of the country's constitutional court's rulings, Reuters reported on June 27. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Lawmakers Pass Law Suspending Rulings From Central Constitutional Court

Finland

Sweden

Croatia

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said he will instruct the country's permanent representative to NATO, ambassador Mario Nobilo, to vote against Finland and Sweden's accession at the June NATO summit in Madrid until an electoral law in Bosnia-Herzegovina is amended in favor of Bosnian Croats, Total Croatia News reported May 18.

Croatia: President Threatens to Veto Finland and Sweden's NATO Membership

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The European Union announced it is almost doubling the size of its peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported Feb. 24.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: EU Doubles Peacekeeping Force Amid Rising Separatist Sentiment

The Fate of the Eurozone

The parliament of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, voted on Feb. 10 to set up an independent judicial system outside of the Bosnia and Herzegovina legal system, with 45 votes in favor out of 63 votes cast in the 83-seat parliament, Reuters reported Feb. 10.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Parliament Votes to Form Parallel Legal System

Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik is expected to be elected to Bosnia-Herzegovina's presidency with about 55 percent of the vote as counting continues following Oct. 7 elections, Euractiv reported.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serb Nationalist to Win Election to Presidency

Snapshots

United States

Serbia

Milorad Dodik, leader of the most influential political party in the Bosnian-Serb dominated entity of Republika Srpska, on Oct. 27, 2022.

The arrest will test Bosnia's fragile institutional order amid rising regional and global instability, fueling concerns of a potential spillover of unrest across the Western Balkans.

The Arrest of a Serbian Official Puts Bosnian -- and Regional -- Stability to the Test

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The lobby of the headquarters for the U.S. Agency for International Development is seen on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. 

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Cuts to U.S.-funded humanitarian and development programs could worsen global health outcomes, destabilize security environments, accelerate democratic backsliding, and create opportunities for rival powers to expand their influence.

The Global Implications of Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts

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Demonstrators in Belgrade, Serbia, hold up Serbian flags and a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 24, 2022, during a rally in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In the second part of this series, we explore China and Russia's interests in the Balkans and what their activities may mean for the region's long-term stability.

The Risk of Another Balkans War, Part 2: Russian and Chinese Influence

Greece

Slovenia

NATO soldiers patrol a roadblock set up by ethnic Serbs near Zubin Potok, a town in northern Kosovo, on Aug. 1, 2022. 

Despite ethnically-tinged tensions between Kosovo and Serbia that most recently made the news, there appear to be numerous restraints on a potential return to widespread regional conflict. 

The Risk of Another Balkans War, Part 1: Placing Recent Flashpoints in Context

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As COVID-19 forces the EU to remain focused on recovering (and not enlarging) its economy, candidate countries such as Serbia risk veering away from the reforms they had been pursuing to earn their place in the bloc.

What the Fading Promise of EU Accession Means for the Balkans

In the Western Balkans, two trigger points have the potential to set off widespread unrest: negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo to normalize their relations and a deal between Macedonia and Greece for the former to change its name.

Negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo and a Macedonian effort to appease Greece both could provide a spark that ignites political instability and ethnic violence in the region.

Why Efforts to Build Bridges Could Threaten Peace in the Western Balkans

The European Commission has a strategy to offer EU membership to a half-dozen countries in the Western Balkans, but it won't happen anytime soon. 

EU: Brussels Promises Membership To Six Countries, Someday

The 1992-95 Bosnian civil war left about 100,000 people dead.

The ghosts of the Bosnian conflict will remain long after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has run its course.

The Bosnian War: A Visual Anthology 

Global Perspectives

Contributor Perspectives

Many of the underlying problems plaguing the Balkans are still unsolved. 

Tensions are bubbling to the surface in the Balkans once again, perhaps to the region's peril. But will global leaders take notice and step up in time?  

As Crisis Brews in the Balkans, the West Looks On

France

Germany

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Leaders from the Western Balkans and the European Union are assembling in Italy to continue talks aimed at forging closer relations. But for some Balkan states targeted in the latest round of courting, the promise of EU membership may hold less sway than the charms of actual Russian investment.

Europe: Nations Courted With Funds and Promises in Show of Soft Power

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Despite its goal to foster integration throughout Eurasia, Beijing has so far emphasized bilateral or subregional agreements with its Belt and Road projects in Europe, an approach that has raised the suspicions of the bloc's central powers.

For China, All Roads (and Belts) Lead to Europe

China's Belt and Road Initiative

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The Beau-Rivage Palace hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland. The politically neutral space hotels provide can make them ideal spaces for leaders to convene for consultation in times of crisis.

Old Leaders in a New Africa

Any place elite barons of authority convene can, at least temporarily, join the ranks of the world's important spaces. In countries where power is contested, a hotel's neutral space might be the only option for political or military rivals to engage in talks or to trade information, though this can also attract intelligence agency surveillance.

The Temporary Halls of Power

<p>Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in the Western Balkans surrounded by Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. A small strip of land gives the country access to the Adriatic Sea. The capital and most populated city is Sarajevo. The country&#39;s mountainous geography and centuries of invasions have made it home to several ethnic and religious groups. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, waves of early Slavs, including Croats and Serbs, raided the Western Balkans in the sixth and early seventh centuries. A semi-independent state, the Banate of Bosnia, emerged in the mid-12th century, followed by a Bosnian kingdom in the late 14th century. The arrival of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-15th century was a turning point for Bosnia, because the Muslim population grew significantly. During this period, Bosnia was often a battleground between the Ottomans and the Habsburg Empire. Bosnia finally fell into Habsburg hands in the late 19th century, but its dominance would last only until the end of World War I. After World War II, Bosnia became a republic within the socialist Yugoslavia. The collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s was followed by severe violence among Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats; that conflict ended only after NATO intervention. The Dayton Accords of 1995 put an end to the violence, but they also created a complex political system. The agreements split Bosnia into two autonomous entities: the Republika Srpska, predominantly Serb, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, eminently Bosniak. At the federal level, the Bosniak, Serb and Croat communities share power through a rotating presidency. Bosnia&#39;s main challenge is to manage the internal forces that lead to fragmentation, but it also needs to develop efficient political and economic structures that allow the country to generate growth and create jobs.</p>

SITUATION REPORTS

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnian Authorities Ordered Arrest of Serb Separatist Leader Dodik

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska Bans State Investigative and Judicial Institutions

EU: Brussels To Propose New, More Gradual Accession Process for New Members

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Lawmakers Pass Law Suspending Rulings From Central Constitutional Court

Croatia: President Threatens to Veto Finland and Sweden's NATO Membership

Bosnia and Herzegovina: EU Doubles Peacekeeping Force Amid Rising Separatist Sentiment

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska's Parliament Votes to Form Parallel Legal System

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Serb Nationalist to Win Election to Presidency

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